Fiber-based flat and curved panel displays

ABSTRACT

A process for frit-sealing together a panel of a fiber-based information display includes assembling the panel and sealing, after the step of assembling, the panel by forcing a glass frit to flow between the two glass plates that comprise the panel using narrow strips of glass. The glass frit-seals the top and bottom glass plates together and covers the wire electrodes at the end of the fibers to dielectrically isolate them from each other. The process of assembling and frit-sealing the panel is particularly suitable for use in an information display, such as plasma emissive displays, plasma addressed liquid crystal displays, and field emissive displays

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a divisional patent application of application Ser. No.09/299,371, filed Apr. 26, 1999, entitled “FRIT-SEALING PROCESS USED INMAXING DISPLAYS”, which is now U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,899 issued Mar. 12,2002. The aforementioned patent is hereby incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention pertains to the field of fiber-based displays and methodsof manufacture. More particularly, the invention pertains to fiber-basedfull-color plasma, plasma addressed liquid crystal, and field emissiondisplays and their method of manufacture.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

All electronic display technologies are composed of a large array ofdisplay picture elements, called pixels arranged in a two-dimensionalmatrix. Color is added to these displays by subdividing each pixelelement into three-color subpixels. The electronic display technologiescan be further divided into a category known as flat-panel displays. Thebasic structure of a flat-panel display comprises two glass plates witha conductor pattern of electrodes on the inner surfaces of each platewith additional structure to separate the plates or create a channel.The conductors are configured in a x-y matrix with horizontal andvertical electrodes deposited at right angles from each other to allowfor matrix addressing. Examples of flat-panel displays include plasmadisplays, plasma addressed liquid crystal (PALC) displays, fieldemission displays (FED), and the like.

Plasma display panels (PDP) have been around for about 30 years, howeverthey have not seen widespread commercial use. The main reasons are theshort lifetime, low efficiency, and cost of the color plasma displays.Most of the performance issues were solved with the invention of thethree electrode surface discharge AC plasma display (G. W. Dick,“Three-Electrode per PEL AC Plasma Display Panel”, 1985 InternationalDisplay Research Conf., pp. 45-50; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,554,537, 4,728,864,4,833,463, 5,086,297, 5,661,500, and 5,674,553). The new three electrodesurface discharge structure advances many technical attributes of thedisplay, but its complex manufacturing process and detailed structuremakes manufacturing complicated and costly.

Currently, plasma display structures are built up layer by layer onspecialty glass substrates using many complex processing steps. FIG. 1illustrates the basic structure of a surface discharge AC plasma displaymade using standard technology. The PDP can be broken down into twoparts: top plate 10 and bottom plate 20. The top plate 10 has rows ofpaired electrodes referred to as the sustain electrodes 11 a, 11 b. Thesustain electrodes are composed of wide transparent indium tin oxide(ITO) electrodes 12 and narrow Cr/Cu/Cr bus electrodes 13. Theseelectrodes are formed using sputtering and multi-layer photolithography.The sustain electrodes 11 are covered with a thick (25 μm) dielectriclayer 14 so that they are not exposed to the plasma. Silk-screening ahigh dielectric paste over the surface of the top plate andconsolidating it in a high temperature process step forms thisdielectric layer 14. A magnesium oxide layer (MgO) 15 is deposited byelectron-beam evaporation over the dielectric layer to enhance secondaryemission of electrons and improve display efficiency. The bottom plate20 has columns of address electrodes 21 formed by silk-screening silverpaste and firing the paste in a high temperature process step. Barrierribs 22 are then formed between the address electrodes 21. These ribs22, typically 50 μm wide and 120 μm high, are formed using either agreater than ten layer multiple silk-screening process or a sandblastingprocess. In the sandblasting method, barrier rib paste is blade coatedon the glass substrate. A photoresist film laminated on the paste ispatterned by photolithography. The rib structure is formed bysandblasting the rib paste between the exposed pattern, followed byremoval of the photoresist layer and a high temperature consolidation ofthe barrier rib 22. Alternating red 23R, green 23G, and blue 23Bphosphors are silk-screened into the channels between the barrier ribsto provide color for the display. After silk-screening the phosphors 23,the bottom plate is sandblasted to remove excess phosphor in thechannels. The top and bottom plates are frit sealed together and thepanel is evacuated and backfilled with a gas mixture containing xenon.

The basic operation of the display requires a plasma discharge where theionized xenon generates ultraviolet (UV) radiation. This UV light isabsorbed by the phosphor and converted into visible light. To address apixel in the display, an AC voltage is applied across the sustainelectrodes 11 which is large enough to sustain a plasma, but not largeenough to ignite one. A plasma is a lot like a transistor, as thevoltage is increased nothing happens until a specific voltage is reachedwhere it turns on. Then an additional short voltage pulse is applied tothe address electrode 21, which adds to the sustain voltage and ignitesthe plasma by adding to the total local electric field, thereby breakingdown the gas into a plasma. Once the plasma is formed, electrons arepulled out of the plasma and deposited on the MgO layer 15. Theseelectrons are used to ignite the plasma in the next phase of the ACsustain electrodes. To turn the pixel off, an opposite voltage must beapplied to the address electrode 21 to drain the electrons from the MgOlayer 15, thereby leaving no priming charge to ignite the plasma in thenext AC voltage cycle on the sustain electrodes. Using these primingelectrons, each pixel can be systematically turned on or off. To achievegray levels in a plasma display, each video frame is divided into 8 bits(256 levels) and, depending on the specific gray level, the pixels areturned on during these times.

There are presently three address modes of operation for a standard ACplasma display: (1) erase address (U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,344), (2) writeaddress (U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,500), and (3) ramped voltage address (U.S.Pat. No. 5,745,086). The prior art wave forms for the matrix eraseaddress waveform is shown in FIG. 2. In the initial address cycle CA inthe line display period T a discharge sustain pulse PS is applied to thedisplay electrode 11 a and simultaneously a writing pulse in applied tothe display electrode 11 b. In FIG. 2, the inclined line in thedischarge sustain pulse PS indicates that it is selectively applied tolines. By this operation, all surface discharge cells are made to be ina written state.

After the discharge sustain pulses PS are alternately applied to thedisplay electrodes 11 a and 11 b to stabilize the written states, and atan end stage of the address cycle CA, an erase pulse PD is applied tothe display electrode 11 b and a surface discharge occurs.

The erase pulse PD is short in pulse width, 1 μs to 2 μs. As a result,wall charges on a line as a unit are lost by the discharge caused by theerase pulse PD. However, by taking a timing with the erase pulse PD, apositive electric field control pulse PA having a wave height Va isapplied to address electrodes 21 corresponding to unit luminescent pixelelements to be illuminated in the line.

In the unit luminescent pixel elements where the electric field controlpulse PA is applied, the electric field due to the erase pulse PD isneutralized so that the surface discharge for erase is prevented and thewall charges necessary for display remain. More specifically, addressingis performed by a selective erase in which the written states of thesurface discharge cells to be illuminated are kept.

In the display period CH following the address cycle CA, the dischargesustain pulse PS is alternately applied to the display electrodes 11 aand 11 b to illuminate the phosphor layers 23. The display of an imageis established by repeating the above operation for all line displayperiods.

The prior art waveforms for the matrix write address waveform is shownin FIG. 3. At the initial stage of the address cycle CA, a writing pulsePW is applied to the display electrode 11 a at the same time a sustainpulse is applied to display electrode 11 b so as to make the potentialthereof large enough to place each pixel element in the line in a writestate. The write pulse PW is followed by two sustain pulses PS tocondition the plasma cells. A narrow relative pulse of width t1 is thenapplied to each pixel element in the line to erase the wall charge. Thenarrow pulse is obtained by applying a voltage Vs on the sustainelectrode 11 a a time t1 before a voltage Vs is applied to sustainelectrode 11 b. In the display line, a discharge sustain pulse PS isselectively applied to the display electrode 11 b and a selectivedischarge pulse PA is selectively applied to the address electrodes 21corresponding to the unit luminescent pixel elements to be illuminatedin the line depending on the image. By this procedure, oppositedischarges between the address electrodes 21 and the display electrode11 b or selective discharges occur, so that the surface discharge cellscorresponding to the unit luminescent pixel elements to be illuminatedare placed into write states and the addressing finishes.

In the display period CH following the address cycle CA, the dischargesustain pulse PS is alternately applied to the display electrodes 11 aand 11 b to illuminate the phosphor layers 23. The display of an imageis established by repeating the above operation for all line displayperiods.

The prior art wave forms for the matrix ramped voltage address waveformis shown in FIG. 4. During the setup period a voltage ramp PE is appliedto the sustain electrode 11 b which acts to erase any pixel sites whichare in the ON state. After the initial erase a slowly rising ramppotential Vr is applied to the sustain electrode 11 a then raisedpotential is applied to sustain electrode 11 b and a falling potentialVf is applied to the sustain electrode 11 a. The rising and fallingvoltages produces a controlled discharge causing the establishment ofstandardized wall potentials at each of the pixel sites along thesustain line. During the succeeding address pulse period, address datapulses PA are applied to selected column address lines 21 while sustainlines 11 b are scanned PSc. This action causes selective setting of thewall charge states at pixel sites along a row in accordance with applieddata pulses.

Thereafter, during the following sustain period an initial longersustain pulse PSL is applied to the sustain electrode 11 a to assureproper priming of the pixels in the written state. The remainingsustaining period is composed of discharge sustain pulses PS alternatelyapplied to the display electrodes 11 a and 11 b to illuminate thephosphor layers 23. The display of an image is established by repeatingthe above operation for all line display periods.

A number of methods have been proposed to create the structure in aplasma display, such as thin and thick film processing,photolithography, silk screening, sand blasting, and embossing. However,none of the structure forming techniques provides as many advantages asthat of using fibers. Small hollow tubes were first used to createstructure in a panel by W. Mayer, “Tubular AC Plasma Panels,” 1972 IEEEConf. Display Devices, Conf. Rec., N.Y., pp. 15-18, and R. Storm,“32-Inch Graphic Plasma Display Module,” 1974 SID Int. Symposium, SanDiego, pp. 122-123, and included in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,964,050 and4,027,188. These early applications where focused on using an array ofgas filled hollow tubes to produce the rib structure in a PDP. Inaddition, this work focused on adding the electrode structure to theglass plates that sandwiched the gas filled hollow tubes. Since thisearly investigation no further work was published on further developinga fiber or tube technology until that published by C. Moore and R.Schaeffler, “Fiber Plasma Display”, SID '97 Digest, pp. 1055-1058.

The present invention is also directed to PALC displays and FEDs.Tektronix, Inc., has disclosed and demonstrate the use of plasmachannels to address a liquid crystal display. For example, U.S. Pat.Nos. 4,896,149, 5,036317, 5,077,553, 5,272,472, 5,313,423, thespecifications of which are all hereby incorporated by reference,disclose such structures. The only public knowledge of fibers for PALCdisplays was published by D.M. Trotter, C.B. Moore, and V.A.Bhagavatula, “PALC Displays Made from Electroded Glass Fiber Arrays”,SID '97 Digest, pp. 379-382. No known publications exist for usingfibers for FEDs.

The PALC display, illustrated in FIG. 5, relies on the highly non-linearelectrical behavior of a relatively low pressure (10-100 Torr) gas,usually He, confined in many parallel channels. A pair of parallelelectrodes 36 are deposited in each of the channels 35, and a very thinglass microsheet 33 forms the top of the channels. Channels 35 aredefined by ribs 34, which are typically formed by screen printing orsand blasting. A liquid crystal layer 32 on top of the microsheet 33 isthe optically active portion of the display. A cover sheet 30 withtransparent conducting electrodes 31 running perpendicular to the plasmachannels 35 lies on top of the liquid crystal 32. Conventionalpolarizers, color filters, and backlights, like those found in otherliquid crystal displays, are also commonly used.

Because there is no ground plane, when voltages are applied to thetransparent electrodes 31, the voltages are divided among the liquidcrystal 32, the microsheet 33, the plasma channel 35, and any otherinsulators intervening between the transparent electrode 31 and whateverbecomes the virtual ground. As a practical matter, this means that ifthere is no plasma in the plasma channel 35, the voltage drop across theliquid crystal 32 will be negligible, and the pixels defined by thecrossings of the transparent electrodes 31 and the plasma channels 35will not switch. If, however, a voltage difference sufficient to ionizethe gas is first applied between the pair of electrodes 36 in a plasmachannel 35, a plasma forms in the plasma channel 35 so that it becomesconducting, and constitutes a ground plane. Consequently, for pixelsatop this channel, the voltages will be divided between the liquidcrystal 32 and the microsheet 33 only. This places a substantial voltageacross the liquid crystal 32 and causes the pixel to switch; therefore,igniting a plasma in the channel causes the row above the channel to beselected. Because the gas in the channels is non-conducting, the rowsare extremely well isolated from the column voltages unless selected.This high nonlinearity allows very large numbers of rows to be addressedwithout loss of contrast.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly stated, a process for frit-sealing together a panel of afiber-based information display includes assembling the panel andsealing, after the step of assembling, the panel by forcing a glass fritto flow between the two glass plates that comprise the panel usingnarrow strips of glass. The glass frit-seals the top and bottom glassplates together and covers the wire electrodes at the end of the fibersto dielectrically isolate them from each other. The process ofassembling and frit-sealing the panel is particularly suitable for usein an information display, such as plasma emissive displays, plasmaaddressed liquid crystal displays, and field emissive displays.

Constructing displays using fibers has many different benefits andadvantages. The economic benefits of the fiber-based plasma displaytechnology compared to the standard plasma display technology is thatfibers result in 70% lower capital costs, 50% lower manufacturing costs,and 20% lower materials costs. These lower costs are realized as aresult of the manufacturing advantages. Fiber-based displays have 50%fewer process steps, no multi-level alignment steps, higher yields,simpler process steps, no large vacuum process equipment orphotolithography steps, no size limit, and no shape limit. Thefiber-based technology also yields performance advantages. Tight controlof the fiber size and shape (intra-pixel control) along with thelocation of the wire electrodes leads to a fine control of the electricfields within the display. Creating the optimum electric field increasesthe discharge efficiency in a plasma display by a factor of two.Controlling the electric field also allows a reduction of ionbombardment on the phosphors, hence increasing the lifetime of thedisplay. It is very easy to control the intra-pixel dimensions in afiber plasma display; however, it is quite difficult and requiresseveral extra steps for the standard process to achieve such control.The fiber-based technology also provides environmental advantages. Sincethe glass fibers can be made from a lead-free glass, there is a largereduction in the lead content of the display compared to standard plasmadisplays and CRTs. A completely lead-free display could even be realizedif lead-free frits can be used. The innovative fiber-based technologyeliminates the waste products associated with traditionalphotolithographic processes and the associated problems of treating theetching solution-contaminated rinse liquids. Also, there are none of theby-products from sand blasting glass. The bottom line is the fiberplasma technology is a cleaner, more environmentally safe manufacturingoperation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a standard plasma display in accordance with theprior art.

FIG. 2 shows the prior art waveforms for the erase address mode ofoperation.

FIG. 3 shows the prior art waveforms for the write address mode ofoperation.

FIG. 4 shows the prior art waveforms for the ramped voltage address modeof operation.

FIG. 5 illustrates a standard PALC display in accordance with the priorart.

FIG. 6 illustrates the fiber draw process.

FIG. 7A shows a SEM of a bottom fiber with phosphor coating.

FIG. 7B shows a SEM of a top fiber.

FIG. 8 schematically shows the fiber-based plasma display with allfunctions of the display integrated into fibers with embedded wireelectrodes in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 9 schematically shows the fiber-based PALC display with allfunctions of the display integrated into the fibers with embedded wireelectrodes in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 10A schematically shows a cross-section of guide structure builtinto the bottom fiber to interlock the fibers.

FIG. 10B schematically shows a cross-section of an interlockingstructure built into the bottom fiber.

FIG. 11A schematically shows a cross-section of a guide structure builtinto the top fiber to interlock the fibers.

FIG. 11B schematically shows a cross-section of an interlockingstructure built into the top fiber.

FIG. 12 schematically shows the use of optically absorbing sides in thetop fiber to form a black matrix pattern.

FIG. 13 schematically shows a cross-section of an interlocking structurebuilt into the top fiber and the use of optically absorbing sides in thetop fiber to form a black matrix pattern.

FIG. 14 schematically shows a cross-section of an interlocking structurebuilt into the top fiber and the use of optically absorbing sides in thetop fiber to form a black matrix pattern.

FIG. 15 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber in a plasmadisplay with intra-pixel shape.

FIG. 16 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber in a plasmadisplay with intra-pixel shape.

FIG. 17 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber in a plasmadisplay with intra-pixel shape.

FIG. 18 shows a SEM cross-section of a top fiber with intra-pixel shape.

FIG. 19 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber in a plasmadisplay with two wire electrodes per sustain electrode.

FIG. 20 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber in a plasmadisplay with three wire electrodes per sustain electrode.

FIG. 21 schematically shows a cross-section of a top fiber in a plasmadisplay with two wire electrodes per sustain electrode and intra-pixelshape.

FIG. 22 schematically shows a cross-section of a frit-sealing processusing glass tabs to force the frit to flow into the gap between theglass plates.

FIG. 23 schematically shows a frit-sealing process to attached theevacuation tube to the plasma panel using a glass washer to force thefrit to flow.

FIG. 24 shows a planar view of the plasma panel frit sealed with glasstabs and wire electrodes extending out through the frit region.

FIG. 25 illustrates a typical process flow for fiber-based plasmadisplay.

FIG. 26A illustrates the process steps to form a fiber array.

FIG. 26B illustrates the process steps to form a fiber array.

FIG. 26C illustrates the process steps to form a fiber array.

FIG. 26D illustrates the process steps to form a fiber array.

FIG. 27 illustrates a process to coat phosphor in the fiber channels ona rotating drum and remove the excess from the top of the barrier ribs.

FIG. 28A shows and SEM of a phosphor coated bottom fiber.

FIG. 28B shows a SEM similar to that illustrated in FIG. 28a with thephosphor removed from the top of the barrier ribs.

FIG. 29 schematically shows a cross-section of a bottom fiber in a PALCdisplay.

FIG. 30A schematically shows a cross-section of the top fiber in a PALCdisplay with one address electrode.

FIG. 30B schematically shows a cross-section of the top fiber in a PALCdisplay with two address electrodes.

FIG. 30C schematically shows a cross-section of the top fiber in a PALCdisplay with three address electrodes.

FIG. 31 schematically shows a cross-section of top fiber in a PALCdisplay with integrated color filter and black matrix pattern.

FIG. 32 schematically shows a cross-section of top fiber in a PALCdisplay with integrated color filter, black matrix pattern andinterlocking structure.

FIG. 33A schematically shows a cross-section of the bottom fiber in aPALC display partially formed using a loss glass process.

FIG. 33B schematically shows a cross-section of the bottom fiber in aPALC display partially formed using a loss glass process.

FIG. 33C schematically shows a cross-section of the bottom fiber in aPALC display partially formed using a loss glass process.

FIG. 34A schematically shows a cross-section of the top fiber in a PALCdisplay partially formed using a loss glass process.

FIG. 34B schematically shows a cross-section of the top fiber in a PALCdisplay partially formed using a loss glass process.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the following description it is understood that the such terms as“top” refers to the section or sections of a panel in a display that isclosest to the viewer, whereas “bottom” refers to the section orsections of a panel in the display that is on the half away from theviewer.

The key invention is that all structure of each row and column of thedisplay panel is contained within each fiber of both arrays. Therefore,the entire functionality of the display is contained within each fiberof the display. Each individual fiber in the top fiber array containsall the structure of each row of the display and each individual fiberin the bottom fiber array contains all the structure of each column ofthe display. In the invention, glass fibers with wire electrodes areformed by drawing fiber 27 from an appropriately-shaped glass preform40, as illustrated in FIG. 6. The fibers are assembled into arrays andplaced between two glass plates to form the structure of an informationdisplay. The glass preform 40 in which the fiber is drawn from is formedusing hot glass extrusion, where a billot of glass is loaded into a hightemperature press and it is forced out through a die to form anappropriately-shaped glass preform 40. The fiber 27 or 17 can also beformed directly from the hot glass extrusion process by either extrudingthe appropriately-sized and shaped fiber or drawing the fiber directlyfrom the preform as it exits the hot glass extrusion machine. Examplesof fiber-based information displays are shown in FIG. 8 for a plasmadisplay and FIG. 9 for a PALC display, similar fiber-based displayscould be constructed for other flat-panel displays such as FEDs.

Glass fiber 27 (or 17) is drawn from a large glass preform 40, which isformed using hot glass extrusion. Metal wire electrode(s) 41 are fedthrough a hole in the glass preform and are co-drawn with the glassfiber (FIG. 6). The glass around the metal wire is only drawn downenough to pull the wire and does not actually fuse to the wire. To drawfiber at a high draw speed (5 to 20 m/sec) 43 the temperature of thefurnace 42 has to be high enough to lower the viscosity of the glass inthe root 45 to around 1×10⁵ Poise. This low viscosity placesrestrictions on the complicated shape preforms to produce fibers of thesame shape. The draw forces in the root 45 of the draw tend to cause thecorners to bow inward at the top of the root. The root of the fiber goesthrough a point of inflection, where the force of the draw tends tocause the corners to bow outward at the bottom of the root. The outwardforce at the bottom of the root tends to rotate a “barrier rib” sectionof a bottom fiber 27 outward to a 120° angle. To counteract the bowingoutward of the “barrier rib” section, a triangular section is added at a120° angle to the bottom of the plasma channel to the inside of thebarrier ribs (see FIG. 7A). The larger base on the barrier rib keeps itfrom folding outward during the draw process. In the preferredembodiment the bottom fiber preform should be designed such that anglebetween the bottom of the plasma channel and the side of the barrier ribis >110°, and more preferred >115°, and most preferred >120°. Anotherarea in a preform that effects the final shape of a fiber is thethickness of glass from the bottom of the fiber to the bottom of theplasma channel. The same forces in the root 45 of the draw act to openup the plasma channel depending on the thickness of glass below thebottom of the plasma channel. If the thickness of glass below the plasmachannel is equal to or greater than the depth of the plasma channel (orheight of barrier ribs) then the shape of the plasma channel will beheld in the draw process. In the preferred embodiment the bottom fiberpreform should be designed such that the percent of glass from thebottom of the plasma channel to the bottom of the fiber is >50% of theheight of the barrier ribs, and more preferred >75%, and most preferred>100%.

A further embodiment of the invention is to use a loss glass process togenerate fine features and hold tight tolerances in the fiber profile.To hold the proper shape during the draw process, a dissolvable glasscan be added to the preform and removed from the fiber after the drawprocess. Typical liquid solutions to dissolve the glass include vinegarand lemon juice. The dissolvable glass can be removed during the drawprocess before the fiber is wound onto the drum, or the glass can beremoved while the fibers are wrapped on the drum, or the glass can beremoved after the fibers have been removed from the drum as a sheet. Thedissolvable glass can be used to generate fine features in the top orbottom fibers, such as very thin barrier ribs with straight sidewalls.In part, a dissolvable glass can be used to generate any shape ortolerance in a fiber-based display. Using a loss glass process tocontrol fiber shape will be discussed further with reference to FIG. 33.

The innovation of the fiber-based plasma display is that the entirefunctionality of the standard plasma display (FIG. 1) is created byreplacing the top and bottom plates with respective sheets of top 17 andbottom 27 fibers (FIG. 8) sandwiched between plates of soda lime glass16 and 24. Each row of the bottom plate is composed of a single fiber 27that includes the address electrode 21, barrier ribs 22, plasma channel25 and the phosphor layer 23 (FIG. 7A). Each column of the top plate iscomposed of a single fiber 17 that includes two sustain electrodes 11and a thin built-in dielectric layer 14 over the electrodes which iscovered with a MgO layer 15 (FIG. 7B). Therefore, the entire function ofthe display is contained within the fibers. Sheets of top 17 and bottom27 fibers are placed between two glass plates 16 and 24 and the ends ofthe glass fibers are removed from the wire electrodes. The glass platesare frit sealed together with the wire electrodes extending through thefrit seal. The panel is evacuated and backfilled with a xenon-containinggas and the wire electrodes are connected to the drive circuitry. Thishighly innovative approach is considerably simpler than the existingfabrication technology and comparisons are discussed in greater detailbelow.

The ability to fabricate large displays with the fiber technology willset a precedent for plasma displays since the current industrycapability is only 50″ diagonal. In standard plasma display fabrication,the display size is determined by the size of the masks used in thenumerous patterned photolithography steps since the display is built uplayer by layer on a glass substrate. Thus, larger panel sizes requirescale-up of processing equipment. It is also expected that considerablylarger sizes (>80″ diagonal) will not be possible by conventionaltechnology due to technical difficulties in aligning the fine patternsover large areas. These difficulties arise because of screen stretchingduring the silk-screening steps and feature distortion during the hightemperature process steps due to glass compaction (Weber and Birk, MRSBulletin, 65, 1996).

With the fiber-based technology of the present invention, the overallsize is simply determined by the fiber length, which is independent ofprocessing equipment. High precision arrangement of fibers into fiberarray sheets requires only fine control of the size and shape ofindividual fibers. The requirement of height control of the fiber istypically <10 μm corresponding to about 10% of the plasma channel depth.To keep the plasma from spreading over the top of the barrier ribs theseparation between the top fibers and the barrier ribs should be <10% ofthe channel depth. The use of an interlocking mechanism 50 and 51 builtinto the sides of the top or bottom fibers can assist in retaining aconsistent fiber height (FIGS. 10 and 11). Fiber guides 50 a and 50 bbuilt into the sides of the fibers will set the fibers in an array allat the same height when the fiber array is assembled and tightlycompressed together. High precision arrangement of the fibers can alsobe aided with an interlocking mechanism. Since all of the functions ofthe display are contained within each fiber, the avoidance of visiblegaps between the fibers is the only requirement for tolerance. Theinterlocking mechanism 51 a and 51 b will tend to stitch the fiberstogether as they are assembled into their perspective arrays. Somerelief of the gap tolerance will be achieved by the addition of a blackmatrix pattern 53 built into the sides of the top plate fiber (FIG. 12).However, the optimum method of avoiding a visible gap between fibers isto combine the interlocking mechanism 50 with the black matrix pattern52. FIGS. 13 and 14 show the advantage of combining the interlockingmechanism 50 with the black matrix pattern 52. Note that the fibers canbe separated a distance equal to the interlocking tab 50 a before theviewer can see between the fibers.

A technical challenge for the plasma display industry is to increase theefficiency of the displays. Presently, plasma display efficiencies arearound one lumen/Watt (1/W) compared to >five 1/W for CRTs. Byincreasing the discharge efficiency (2×), increasing the phosphorefficiency (2×), and increasing the optical coupling (1.25×), theluminous efficiency of plasma displays can be increased to five =b 1=l/W. One of the major advantages the fiber-based technology has over allother technologies is the fine control of the shape of the plasma cell.This fine control is achieved by controlling the shape of the fibersurface and the dielectric layer thickness 14 around the wire electrodes11 in the top fiber. This “intra-pixel” control will allow a specificelectric field to be generated in order to optimize the dischargeefficiency. FIGS. 15-17 illustrate the intra-pixel shape of the topfiber by controlling the dielectric layer 14 around the wire electrodes11. FIG. 18 is a SEM cross-section of a drawn fiber with intra-pixelshape. Note there are many different possible shapes of both the top andbottom fibers and the optimum shape to yield the proper electric fieldwill depend on size of plasma cell, number and separation of sustainelectrodes, and amount of plasma damage to the phosphor layer. Stray ionbombardment of the phosphors, which limit their lifetime, can also bereduced by optimizing the intra-pixel shape. Phosphor lifetime, or theamount of time before the luminance is decreased by 50%, and plasmaefficiency are presently the two technical challenges facing the plasmadisplay industry and the fiber-based technology is most suited to solvethese issues because of the ability of controlling the intra-pixelshape.

The sustain electrodes in a standard plasma display (FIG. 1) aretypically constructed using narrow metal bus electrodes 13 and wideindium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes 12 to spread the plasma and increasethe amount of UV generation. To spread out the electric field in thefiber-based display the sustain electrodes 11 are composed of more thanone metal wire. FIG. 19 illustrates a two electrode 11 a per sustainelectrode configuration and FIG. 20 illustrates a three electrode 11 aper sustain electrode configuration. Intra-pixel control can also beadded into the multi-sustain electrode configuration as shown in FIG.21. The multi-electrode configuration will serve a similar purpose asthe ITO electrodes 12 in the standard display. The plasma will be firedover a larger area, hence generating more secondary electrons, whichgenerate more ionization, which generate more UV, which generates morevisible light.

Addressing the fiber-based plasma display will require different voltagewaveforms because the electrical fields generated from a wire electrodeare substantially different than those from a thin metal electrode. Ithas been noted that addressing a fiber-based plasma display requireslonger address pulses to write the display image. The voltage ramprequirements for addressing a display with wire electrodes with belessened because of the lack of the thin metal edge that enhances theelectric field. A cylindrical wire electrode does not have a thin metaledge that enhances the electric field, therefore all the addressingmodes of operations will require significantly different electricfields. The exact wave forms for the different modes of operation(erase, write, and voltage ramp) will differ for different intra-pixelfiber shapes as a result of different dielectric thickness around thewire electrodes, location of wire electrodes, and total number of wiresustain electrodes.

The most significant technical issues with current plasma displayfabrication are the need for low-cost processes to form barrier ribs anda simpler phosphor coating process (Mikoshiba, SID Int. Symp. SeminarLecture Notes, M-4/1, 1998). The complex multi-step barrier ribformation process used in the standard plasma display is replaced by amuch simpler process in the fiber-based display where the barrier ribsare simply designed into the fiber shape. Phosphor deposition is alsosimplified in the fiber display since individual fibers are spray coatedwith a specific color and subsequently arranged in alternating red,green and blue patterns in the bottom fiber array. Spray coating alsoproduces a very uniform coating throughout the channel, as shown in FIG.7A. The innovative process to fabricate the fiber-based plasma displayand other fiber-based displays will be discussed further with referenceto FIG. 25.

The fiber-based plasma display is a low cost alternative because itreduces the manufacturing cost by one half. This reduction inmanufacturing cost is realized in a more simplified manufacturingprocess with lower capital and material costs. The fiber-based processhas only 13 process steps compared to 25 or more for the standardprocess. In addition, the process steps are simpler—extrusion and fiberdraw compared to multi-level photolithography and precision silkscreening. It is expected that fewer process steps will result in higheryields and lower overall cost. Multi-level alignment steps are alsoeliminated in the fiber-based display process because the entirefunctionality of the top and bottom plates is contained within eachrespective fiber. The standard process has two alignment steps toprocess the top plate and five alignment steps for the bottom plate.These multi-level alignment steps are interleaved with high temperatureprocesses (e.g. firing of address electrode or barrier rib pastes) thatmandate the use of expensive specialty glass substrates to minimize thecompaction or shrinkage of the glass. The fiber-based process has nomulti-level steps, permitting use of low cost soda lime glass substratesfor any size display. Since all the process steps are performed on thefibers, no large area vacuum process equipment is needed nor anyexpensive photolithography processes.

The fiber-based technology can produce a variety of special displayswith unique attributes. The fiber-based display technology is the onlyknown direct view technology that can be used to fabricate a curveddisplay. With all the functionality of the display contained within thefibers, which can be wrapped onto a curved surface, a full 360° viewabledisplay can be produced. Large tiled displays with small tiling gaps canalso be fabricated, since the electrodes are wires, which can be bent toa 90° angle as they exit the frit region.

A further embodiment of the invention, illustrated in FIG. 22, is aglass frit sealing process, which is of particular use in fiber-baseddisplays that contain a hermetically sealed enclosure. The prior artmethod of frit sealing a display requires that the frit be first appliedto at least one of the panels before the panels are clamped together andforced to come into contact as the glass frit flows during the hightemperature sealing process step. The present invention uses smallstrips of glass 61 to force the frit 60 to flow into the gap between thetop 16 and bottom 24 glass plates, in turn sealing the plates together.This process is particularly useful since it allows the panel to beassembled before frit is applied to the panel. Assembling before fritsealing will assure that the fibers are locked tight together and novisible gaps exist between the them.

The frit-sealing process of the present invention is suitable forstandard plasma displays such as shown in FIG. 1. The display panel canbe assembled before the frit is applied to the panel and the hightemperature sealing process step. However, in this case, the frit needsto be applied to opposite sides of the panel.

The preferred method of sealing the panel together requires that one ofthe panels 16 is larger than the other in both directions, such that thefrit 60 coated glass tabs 61 can be clamped 65 around the perimeter ofthe smaller glass plate 24 (FIG. 24). In order for one of the plates ofthe display to be larger than the other in both directions theelectrodes for the smaller plate must exist separate from that plate,such as in the fiber-based displays. The glass of the fibers is removedfrom the wire electrodes in the frit seal region and the wires arebrought out through the frit seal. Under the proper conditions the fritwill flow around the thousands of wire electrodes and form a vacuumtight seal.

Exposing the wire electrodes 11 in the top fibers (FIG. 7B) by removingthe glass from the wires will allow an arc to form between the bareelectrodes at the ends of the top plate fibers during operation. Thisarcing will occur during the application of the AC voltage to thesustain electrodes 11. Using the new frit sealing process will force thefrit to flow between the top and bottom glass plates and cover the endsof the fibers 11 a and 11 b. Encasing the bare wires in frit willprevent arcing between the electrodes. Therefore, the new frit sealingprocess adds both a method of assembling the panel before frit sealingto lock the fibers in place and a method of forming a dielectric layeraround the wire electrodes to assure proper addressing of the display.

The frit 60 can be applied to the perimeter of the panel after assemblythen the glass tabs 61 can be clamped 65 over the frit 60 to force it toflow between the two glass plates. The frit 60 may also be applied tothe glass tabs 61 before they are clamped 65 around the perimeter of thepanel. The frit 60 may be applied as a paste or glass frit rods orco-extruded or co-slot drawn as part of the glass tab.

A still yet further portion of the invention involves a method of usinga glass washer 62 on the evacuation tube 66 clamped 65 over the frit 60to assist in sealing the evacuation tube 66 to the glass plate 24 (FIG.23). This application 69 of attaching the evacuation tube to the displayuses the same forced frit flow concept as that explained above. Theevacuation tube 66 is placed into a countersunk hole in the glass platethat has a small hole 67 placed through the plate to evacuate the panel.The frit 60 can be placed around the tube 66 as a paste or a glass fritwasher and the glass washer 62 clamped 65 over it or may be included aspart of the glass washer itself preferably as a paste.

The forced frit flow sealing method is particularly useful whenfabricating curved displays because the panel has to be assembled beforeit is sealed together to assure intimate contact between the two platesespecially for a 360° viewable display. Also, all curved displays willhave non-flat surfaces; therefore gravity can not be conveniently usedto flow the frit in the desired direction.

A further embodiment of the invention, illustrated in FIG. 26, is amethod of forming an array of fiber for the fiber-based display. Fiber(17 or 27) from the fiber draw process or from another process is woundonto a rotating drum 70 (FIG. 26A). Previous to the fiber windingprocess two rigid rods 71 are placed into the grooves 73 in the drum.After the fiber winding process a second set of rigid rods 71 areclamped 72 over the fiber (17 or 27) to the first set and the fiber arecut 75 between the two pair of rods 71 (FIG. 26B). One set of rods 71 isremoved from its groove 73 and the fibers (17 or 27) are unraveled fromthe drum 70 as a sheet (FIG. 26C). Once the fibers (17 or 27) aretotally unraveled from the drum 70 and the other set of rods 71 isremoved from its groove 73 a self supported array of fibers (17 or 27)is formed (FIG. 26D). The preferred method of forming fiber arrays forfiber-based displays is described above. The key to the invention is toform an array of fibers from a cylindrical drum. There are severaldifferent methods of forming a fiber array from a cylindrical drumwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, such asthe following. Draw the fiber onto a rotating drum. Place the fiberwound drum on a flat surface. Hold the fiber tight to the drum above theflat surface. Cut the fibers between the flat surface and the locationof where the fibers are being held to the drum. Hold the other end ofthe cut fibers to the flat surface and roll the drum on the flat surfaceto unwind the fibers. As the end of the fibers are rolled off the drumhold that end onto the flat surface to form an array of fibers.

A typical process flow chart to fabricate a fiber-based plasma displayis shown in FIG. 25. The innovative process starts by preparing theglass plates, which consists of cutting them to size, edging the glassand drilling the evacuation hole in the bottom plate. Next, the bottomand top fiber preforms are formed using hot glass extrusion. Thesepreforms are then loaded into a fiber draw tower, wire is fed throughthe holes in the preform and fiber containing the wire electrode isdrawn onto a rotating cylindrical drum (similar to that shown in FIG.6). The bottom fiber is drawn onto the cylindrical drum with the plasmachannel facing outward. Three separate drums containing fibers are woundto be subsequently coated with red, green and blue phosphors. Thephosphor 81 is applied to the channels of the fibers 27 using a spayingprocess 80, shown in FIG. 27. The fibers are wrapped tight to each otherto prevent phosphor from getting between the fibers and creating a gapin the subsequent panel fabrication process. The phosphor on the top ofthe barrier ribs is removed by scraping 82 it off and vacuuming 83 itaway. The typical build-up of phosphor on the top of the barrier rib isshown in FIG. 28A. If a vacuum 83 is added to the scraping process 82the phosphor is only removed from the top of the barrier rib and is notdisturbed in the channel (FIG. 28B). After three separate drums arecoated with red, green, and blue phosphors, they are sequentiallyrewound onto a single drum in the required RGB sequence. Sheets ofbottom fibers can then be formed using the fiber array forming processexplained in detail above.

Once the top plate fiber is drawn onto a rotating drum, the side of thefiber facing the plasma channel needs to be coated with a MgO film. Thequality of the MgO film has a drastic effect on the UV generation andthe firing voltages of the plasma cell. A high quality MgO film is onethat has a high secondary electron emission and charge storage capacity,which will yield a display with low sustain and address voltages withhigh UV emission. The MgO film can be coated on the fiber in a multitudeof fashions. The standard method of coating the top plates in the plasmaindustry is to use physical vapor deposition. E-beam deposition is thestandard process, however sputtering the MgO is gaining support. Theability to spray coat the MgO film will result in a process with novacuum process steps and considerably lower fabrication cost. Highquality MgO films have been demonstrated using MgO powder by IchiroKoiwa, et al. at Oki Electric (J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 142, No. 5,'95, pg. 1396-1401; Elec. Comm. in Jap, Part 2, Vol. 79, No. 4, '96, pg.55-66; IEICE Trans. Elect., Vol. E79-C, No. 4, '96, pg. 580-585). Thepreferred method of coating the fibers with a MgO film is to spray theMgO film on the to fibers while wrapped on the cylindrical drum similarto the phosphor coating technique.

The fibers may also be removed from the drum as a sheet and spray coatedwith the MgO film. Different vehicles, such as water, alcohol, andmagnesium nitrate salt as a binder may be mixed with a MgO powder to besprayed on the top fibers. The fibers may be coated using the standardcoating techniques of e-beam deposition or sputtering by removing thefibers as a sheet and then coating them, or by placing the cylindricaldrum with the wound fibers into a coating system and coating them whileon the drum. The fibers may also be coated a single fiber at a time or asmall number of fibers at once in a small coating system, where thefiber is spooled through the system and taken-up by another drum. Thesmall vacuum coating system could have variable loadlocks on both endsor large chambers to support the cylinders and the fiber could be coatedin a reel-to-reel system

Once the top fiber is coated with a MgO film and formed into a sheet, itis assembled orthogonal to the bottom fiber array and sandwiched betweenthe two previously prepared soda lime glass plates (FIG. 8). The topglass plate is place on a flat surface and the top fiber array is placeon top of it with the MgO film facing away from the glass plate. Thebottom fiber array is placed on top of the top fiber array channel downand the bottom glass plate is placed on top of the stack. Note that thebottom glass plate is smaller than the top glass plate in all directionsin the plane of the plates. Before the frit is applied to the perimeterof the bottom plate, the glass from the fibers is removed from the wireelectrodes in the frit seal region. The evacuation tube and frit sealassembly is assembled on the panel. Narrow glass tabs with frit areclamped around the perimeter of the bottom glass plate and the panel issealed together in a furnace, where the glass tabs force the frit toflow between the glass plates (FIG. 24). The panel is evacuated andbackfilled with a xenon-containing gas, and the wire electrodes areconnected to the drive electronics.

While much of the above description has been directed to plasmadisplays, many embodiments of the present invention are also applicableto plasma addressed liquid crystal (PALC) displays and field emissiondisplays (FED). The invention could be employed to form fiber-based PALCdisplays as discussed below and spacers and structure in a FED display.

Another portion of the invention is to produce fiber-based PALC displaysusing fibers, for example in FIGS. 9, 29-34. A method of fabricating aPALC display using hollow fibers for the bottom plate is disclosed inthe parent application. However, the fiber shape was a rectangular tubethat required a small vacuum in the centerline of the draw to producefiber with a flat dielectric 33 at the top of the fiber. This tighttolerance on flatness with the hollow fiber has not yet been achieved.The preferred embodiment disclosed within is to use a tapered barrierrib or side wall of the plasma channel and a thicker glass bottom forthe bottom fiber. These additions, discussed in detail above, willprevent the top of the fiber from changing shape during the drawprocess, hence producing a bottom fiber with a thin flat dielectriclayer between the plasma channel and the liquid crystal layer. Anotherpreferred embodiment is to use fibers for the top plate of the PALCdisplay. These fibers, shown in FIGS. 30A through 30C, may have oneembedded address electrode 31 or several embedded address electrodestied together at the ends of the fiber and attached to the driveelectronics or individually addressed. The spacer 90 for the liquidcrystal material may also be built into the top fiber. Building thespacer 90 into each fiber will help control the gap between the fiberarrays, hence controlling the thickness of the liquid crystal and theoperation of the display. Large variations (>3 μm) in the liquid crystalgap will create variations in viewing angle and gray scale of theindividual pixels. Therefore, building a spacer into each fiber willgreatly enhance the operation of the display, especially in largedisplay sizes.

The only section of the fiber-based PALC display (e.g., FIG. 9) that hasto be composed of glass is the bottom fibers 27. The bottom fibers 27should preferably be constructed from a glass or inorganic compound inorder to contain a plasma gas without contaminating the gas. All theother structures in the panel can be composed of plastic, such as thetop fibers, top plate, and bottom plate. Creating a display mainlycomposed of plastic will produce a very lightweight panel.

A further embodiment of the invention is to add color and opticallyabsorbing regions in the top fibers in the PALC display to create acolor filter and black matrix function. The top fiber may be composed ofa colored glass or plastic to add color to the display or a colored diemay be applied to the surface of the fiber (similar to layer 99 shown inFIGS. 29 and 30A) to add color to the display. FIG. 31 illustrates a topfiber array with built-in liquid crystal spacers 90 and addresselectrodes 31 consisting of alternating red 17R, green 17G and blue 17Bcolored fibers. FIG. 31 also illustrates an integral black matrix 52function built into the fibers. This absorbing region may be includedinto the top fiber or produced by coating at least one edge of the fiberwith an absorbing die. In addition to the black matrix 52 and colorfilter (17R, 17G and 17B) an interlocking mechanism 50 can be built intothe fibers, as illustrated in FIG. 32. The interlocking mechanism willhave the advantage of helping to control the variation in cell gapbetween fibers and the visible gap between fibers, as discussed above.

A still yet further portion of the invention involves applying both thepolarizing film 99 and the liquid crystal alignment layer 98 to thefibers in the PALC display. The polarizing film 99 can be applied to thesurface of the top and bottom fibers, as illustrated in FIGS. 29 and30A. The polarizing film can be applied to the fibers while they aredrawn, wrapped around the drum, or after they are formed as a sheet offibers. The polarizing film can also be built into the fibers by simplyincluding a composition that becomes polarizing when stretched in thedraw process into a section of the initial preform. The liquid crystalalignment layer 98 can be added to the fiber during the draw process,while wound on the cylindrical drum, or after the fibers are removedfrom the drum as a sheet. In order for proper operation of the liquidcrystal the alignment layer 98 should be applied to both the top andbottom fibers, as illustrated in FIGS. 29 and 30A.

PALC displays that operate in a transflective (transmissive andreflective) mode of operation can be constructed using partiallyreflective bottom fibers. It is desirable that the fibers be made toreflect as much of the incident light coming from outside the panelthrough the liquid crystal as possible. Thus, in a preferred embodiment,the bottom fibers in the PALC display are made to be capable ofreflecting at least 25 percent, and more preferably at least 50 percent,of the incident light. This can be achieved, for example, by fabricatingthe fibers from a reflecting glass (such as an opal glass orglass-ceramic) or applying a partially reflective coating to the bottomfibers.

A further embodiment of the invention is to use a loss glass process tocreate an exposed wire electrode or hold tolerance in a fiber, asillustrated in FIGS. 33 and 34. A dissolvable glass 95 can beco-extruded with the base glass 27 to form a preform for fiber draw. Thewire electrodes (36 or 31) can be drawn into the fiber and thedissolvable glass 95 can be subsequently removed with a liquid solution.Typical liquid solutions to dissolve the glass include vinegar and lemonjuice. A dissolvable glass 95 may be used to hold the wire electrode ina particular location during the draw process. When the dissolvableglass 95 is removed the fiber becomes exposed to the environment outsidethe fiber. A dissolvable glass 95 may also be used to hold a tighttolerance in a fiber during the draw process, as illustrated in FIG.33B. In this example, the dissolvable glass 95 is used to assure thatthe thin membrane that forms the dielectric layer between the plasmachannel 36 and the liquid crystal remains flat during the fiber drawprocess. A dissolvable glass may also be used to create a unique shapedplasma channel in a fiber plasma display or one with steep sidewalls andnarrow barrier ribs.

The preferred embodiment also includes a process for fabricating thefiber based PALC display, similar to that discussed above forfabricating fiber plasma displays. Both top and bottom fibers are drawnfrom a preform with their corresponding wire electrodes. The fibers withwire electrodes may also be extruded directly from the extrusionmachine. In either case they are wound onto a cylindrical drum. The topfibers are processed with their constituent coatings, if any, andrewound onto a separated drum in a red, green, blue sequence. The bottomfibers which are wound on the cylindrical drum are gas processed beforethey are removed from the drum. Before gas processing, an emissivematerial may be applied inside the plasma channel 36. This emissive filmmay be applied by placing a vapor or liquid through the hollow channelin the fiber. An example would be a liquid solution of magnesium nitratesalt that could be placed into the hollow fibers and converted to a MgOcontaining film upon heating. Also, any dissolvable glass used to holdshape or expose a wire electrode should also be removed before gasprocessing. To gas process the fibers, the two ends of the fibers shouldbe connected to a gas processing system and the proper pressure and gastype applied to the hollow fiber array wound around the drum. Afterestablishing the proper gas conditions the fibers are sealed in twoparallel strips along the axis of the cylindrical drum. By cutting thefibers between the sealed regions, they can be removed from the drum asa gas processed array of bottom fibers. The two fiber arrays can besandwiched between the plates and the seal and liquid crystal added tothe panel. Once the glass or plastic is removed from the wireelectrodes, they can be connected to the drive electronics for paneloperation.

Accordingly, it is to be understood that the embodiments of theinvention herein described are merely illustrative of the application ofthe principles of the invention. Reference herein to details of theillustrated embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of theclaims, which themselves recite those features regarded as essential tothe invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A flat-panel display comprising two glass platesenclosing at least one array of fibers, which serves to form structurewithin said display, where one of said two glass plates is larger thanthe other in all directions in a plane of said glass plates.
 2. Aflat-panel display according to claim 1, wherein said display is aplasma display panel having a hermetically sealed gas filled enclosure,wherein said array of fibers is contained in said hermetically gasfilled enclosure to form part of a plasma cell structure.
 3. Aflat-panel display according to claim 1, wherein said display is aplasma addressed liquid crystal panel, wherein said array of fibersforms a plasma cell structure.
 4. A flat-panel display according toclaim 1, wherein said display is a field emission display panel having ahermetically sealed vacuum enclosure, wherein said array of fibers iscontained in said hermetically sealed vacuum enclosure to form part ofsaid structure in said display.
 5. A flat-panel display according toclaim 2, wherein said hermetically sealed gas filled enclosure containstwo orthogonal arrays of fibers that forms an entire plasma cellstructure.
 6. A flat-panel display according to claim 5, wherein saidhermetically sealed gas filled enclosure contains: said two glass platessandwiched around a top fiber array and a bottom fiber array, said topand bottom fiber arrays being substantially orthogonal and defining astructure of said display, said top fiber array disposed on a sidefacing towards a viewer; said top fiber array including identical topfibers having at least two ends, each top fiber including two wiresustain electrodes located near a surface of said top fiber on a sidefacing away from said viewer and a thin dielectric layer separating saidsustain electrodes from said surface, said surface being covered by anemissive film; said bottom fiber array including three alternatingbottom fibers, each bottom fiber having at least two ends and includinga pair of barrier ribs that define a plasma channel, at least one wireaddress electrode located near a surface of said plasma channel, and aphosphor layer coating on said surface of said plasma channel, wherein aluminescent color of said phosphor coating in each of said threealternating bottom fibers represents a subpixel color of said plasmadisplay; each subpixel being formed by a crossing of one top fiber andone corresponding bottom fiber; and said plasma display beinghermetically sealed with a glass frit where said wire electrodes arebrought out through said glass frit.
 7. A flat-panel display accordingto claim 6, wherein said glass frit covers said ends of said top andbottom fibers to dielectrically isolate said wire electrodes.
 8. Aflat-panel display according to claim 5, wherein a glass frit is used toform a hermetic seal and wire electrodes extend through a frit-sealregion and are connected to a circuit board containing high voltagedrive electronics.
 9. A flat-panel display according to claim 8, whereinsaid glass frit is forced to flow into a gap between said two glassplates.
 10. A flat-panel display according to claim 2, wherein a topglass plate is larger than a bottom glass plate in all directions in aplane of said glass plates where said top glass plate is disposed on aside facing towards a viewer.
 11. A flat-panel display according toclaim 10, wherein said display is hermetically sealed with a glass fritthat connects a surface of said top glass plate to an edge of an entireperimeter of said bottom glass plate.
 12. A flat-panel displaycomprising: a) a vacuum tube; b) a tube panel junction in the flat paneldisplay that receives the vacuum tube; c) a glass washer over saidvacuum tube; and d) a glass frit that is forced to flow between theglass washer and the flat panel display such that a seal between thevacuum tube and the flat panel display is created.
 13. A curved-paneldisplay comprising two glass plates enclosing two orthogonal fiberarrays, which serves to form a structure within said display, whereinone of said two glass plates is larger than the other in all directionsin a plane of said glass plates.